New Prospect town garage up and running

Prospect’s new town garage on Cheshire Road. The garage was paid for with a $200,000 Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development. –RA ARCHIVE

PROSPECT — Four pieces of heavy-duty equipment have found a home inside the new public works garage on Cheshire Road.

Prospect had to wait 30 days for the concrete to set before it could park two payloaders, a loader backhoe and a roadside mower inside the new garage at 221 Cheshire Road, Mayor Robert Chatfield said last week. That wait is now over.

The garage will also store snowblowers, gardening equipment, and lawn mowers.

Situated by the existing garage, the new steel garage measures 40 feet by 60 feet. It is insulated and has four bays with automatic garage doors, a fire alarm and floor drains. It will be heated by propane.

Connecticut Light & Power ran wires to the garage Thursday, and power was on Friday, the mayor said.

For several years, the Public Works Department has had to park the vehicles outside in all types of weather, Chatfield said. The new building provides more storage and protects the town’s property, he said.

Prospect paid for the new garage with a $200,000 Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development.

“I am very thankful for the grant,” Chatfield said. “If we didn’t have the grant, we probably wouldn’t have been able to do this.”

Last year, the Inland Wetlands Commission granted the town a permit to lower an intermittent watercourse on site with conditions. The Planning and Zoning Commission also granted the town a permit.

Construction started on Aug. 28, and it was completed Nov. 2, Chatfield said.

Pisani Steel Fabrication in Naugatuck was awarded the bid, he said. Two subcontractors from Prospect, NJL Corp. and Dependable Energy Inc., performed the site work and heating, respectively, he said.

The project overall went smoothly, and it was finished on time and under budget, Chatfield said.

Millings from Route 42 in Cheshire and Bethany will be spread Tuesday around the garage, he said. When the weather heats next year, the millings will melt together and form an asphalt-like surface, he added.

For more information, residents can go to the town’s website, www.townofprospect.org, and click on the link, New Public Works Garage Construction Project.